Star Trek An Imaginary Tale Edited
by Transk53
Summary: Edited Story. Sarah McHattie is the 1st Officer aboard the USS Allectus, a NX-Sovereiegn Class Ship. Considered a loose cannon by Starfleet. These are her adventures. Enjoy
1. STAIT Principle Cast List

**USS Allectus NCC 7371** Captain Sarah McHattie – ¾ Human and ¼ Romulan (Telepathic and Telekinetic) Lt. Commander Frank Mullins at Ops – Human (Empathic) Lieutenant Dean Talmey as Security Chief – Human (Telepathic and Telekinetic) Lieutenant Darren Ellett at Tactical – Human (Empathic) Lieutenant Henry Berg at Helm – Human (Telepathic and Telekinetic) Lieutenant Daska as Ships Councillor – Betazoid (Empathic) Ensign Tec'co Science Station – Vulcan (Telepathic) Ensign Lavora Ops Station – Trill (Empathic) Ensign Shallock Engineering Station – Andorian (Empathic) **USS Enterprise E NCC 1701** Captain Jean Luc Picard – Human (Non Empathic/Telepathic) Commander Josh Brandt – Human (Non Empathic/Telepathic) **Klingon Defence Force** General Changa – Klingon (Non Empathic/Telepathic) Commander Alexander Worf – Klingon (Non Empathic/Telepathic) **Starfleet Special Forces Directorate** Commander JoJo McHattie – ¾ Human and ¼ Romulan (Telepathic and Telekinetic) Ensign Harold Edward Peterson – Human (Empathic and Telekinetic) 


	2. The Western Starr

**Disclaimer**

**Star Trek is owned by Paramount and as such I lay no claim of ownership. The character names used are owned by paramount and their use in the Prologue**

**is for fiction only!**

**I would like to cite Woadrep08 for the use of the ecological disaster on the Frel home world. Reading Wally inspired me.**

**Right here we go with the second edit. I do hope that fact does not reflect on myself too much. The edit has pretty much turned into a rewrite. I personally felt that the flow of the story was good in some places but bad in others. Due to having word blindness to a lesser degree, I sincerely want to get this right. Anywho, I am going to take some time with this and I realise that all whom have read the original, will see that original dialogue is present, but with changes. I hope that the flow is now more accurate and a time scale has emerged that gives a semblance of continuity. **

**One other thing I wish to share is that JoJo is my real life Sister. Obviously I will not reveal what she is like, but JoJo is pure fiction, aside from the name which is her nickname. **

**Anyway I hope readers find this fanfic something that you all find enjoyable. On with the tale.**

**Prologue**

**Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards**

**March 2379 - Lunchtime**

Admiral Kinnet was in his office awaiting another second generation Flyer to take him to the Utopia Planitia yards, to rendezvous with the Western Starr. The venerable Galaxy class ship had been selected for the new Quantum Slipstream drive tests, and this ship was actually in mothballs before hand, but was ripe for the drive. The warp core was long gone and the engines removed and recycled. Over the last three months the saucer section had been heavily modified to reinforce the structural integrity of the bulkheads and in some cases, patched together ones put in place. Kinnet observed that this work was done really to satisfy the heads at Starfleet Command, the first test forays had been troublesome to say the least, the vessel used became akin to a sieve, but the tests were still worthwhile.

A knock at the door indicated that it was time. A quick acknowledgement and the young lieutenant strode into his office.

"_Christ he is so prim and proper you would think that he was cloned" _Oh well Kinnet thought.

"_Lets go Lieutenant, I believe that the Federation is to leave behind the technical stagnation and have another Cochran moment"_

The Lieutenant predictably spewed the usual yes sir and indeed sir, but actually absorbing nothing regarding the technological achievements the Starfleet Engineers have made since the USS Voyager returned. Most of the technology only really improved some things rather than huge breakthroughs. The Temporal Directive dictated that computer data was deleted regarding the future technology, however ideas were still thrown back and forth, and the Hansen girl was able to divulge much information relating to Transwarp, but most is theory as Borg technology is not readily available.

"_Touching Transwarp is still worthwhile though, but like traditional Warp, QS will have a higher ceiling too"_ Kinnet mused.

That being the most tantalising though, was the QS drive and the new Particle Fusion Beam on a fixed array. Kinnet realised that this is still theory as an employed weapon. The biggest problem still was the differing designs of vessels that operate under Starfleet. While that does not present a crippling effect on the overall operating ability's, it does make upgrading and parts procurement a tad difficult. Kinnet knew that the Engineering core was superb with retro fitting and such like, but again Vessels had to be placed in particular yards for whatever work needed doing.

"_that dammed diversity with the differing ship types is what the Federation needs to drop and soon" _Kinnet knew and was having this conversation with himself over and over. He at least knew that the Luna Class Vessels were a step forward in hull utilisation, however the new Marauder Class

Destroyer with a heavy and light configuration designs, was the ultimate step forward for a Navy. Standardized and modular. The second design being the good ole Battle Wagon. The Sovereign predictably became the basis of the new design, but had differences in how it looked and also the internal Architecture was redesigned with strength and mobility the keys factors. This with internal movements of Crew and the fighting ability of the Vessels in question as examples.

One issue that arose with the new main weapon was that a standardized mount. Kinnet and the Engineers knew that the Deflector Array could handle the job for any kind of testing. The Gun needed a particular mount that had to be incorporated into the Hull on a fixed mount. The power of the Gun would rip a hull to pieces by its nature. Thus the top of a hull was regarded as the logical position. This design couples the standard type of Phasers and also fitted with Pulse Phase Cannons derived from Admiral Sisko's design for the Heavy Escort variant.

Lost in thought, Kinnet did not realise that Utopia Planitia is fast approaching. Ten minutes later, the Flyer docked and Kinnet was met by Consultant Pilot Tom Paris and Lt. Commander B'Elanna Torres.

"_Ah, how are you today? I trust everything is well". _

The couple answered in unison with a "_were fine Sir"_.

The only downside to the overall mood was that Professor O'Brien was ill on Earth.

"_it serious?" _Kinnet asked.

No was the reply. It would appear that the Prof has become late bloomer with Kieko.

There were laughs all round at this.

Kinnet made his way to the bridge with Paris while Torres headed towards Main Engineering. Pre flight checks were made and the system checks conducted by Torres were successful. Half an hour later the Western Starr headed out on an approach vector to go Slipstreaming. Paris confirmed coordinates set and ready to jump. Kinnet conferred with local traffic command and the order was given.

"_Helm, jump to Slipstream" _and they were gone.

**Outer edge of the Alpha Quadrant**

**Two Hours Later**

A portal of some description opened and a single ship exited and strode forward to clear the portal and stopped dead. The strange looking ship with a bulky but shovel looking forward section and with six arms arrayed in a concentric pattern. Each arm has box like energy collectors linked into the arm. The main weapon is fired out through the six of them, some designs with variable focal point firing.

This particular Destroyer was for meant for Area Enforcement. The six guns fire hot bolts at fixed point. Designed to punch through targets using the Primary weapons placed on the nose. Length is 650 meters and this Vessel looked like it war scars making it look even more ugly. One object being scanned and tracked was about to find out just how ugly.

The point that the Western Starr had programmed in for the jump back into normal space, had been dubbed Groombridge after the Pilot that had conducted the first Slipstream test in the Alpha Quadrant that was deemed a success. The Commander got his first Command on a deep range Luna, so it was the projects loss to some degree Kinnet mused. The Western Starr was approaching the drop point to exit Slipstream. Helm confirmed that the coordinates were set ready to make the jump.

"_Pilot, jump to normal space"_

"_Aye aye Sir"_, 10, 9, 8_, "shit_ _there is that slight wobble again"_ 4, 3, 2, 1, "_jumping_. _Sir, what the f..."_

The Captain and crew of the alien ship had detected the portal, well could not miss it visually, but sensors had picked up the method of travel and it was quite intriguing that the normal type of Warp travel had not been employed. This could have been interesting but orders are orders and it is a shame that the procurement of this ship has to be dismissed.

"_Main Guns fire a fully charged volley_"

Two seconds later the target was no more, the souls of the crew travelling beyond to where ever their beliefs take them. The Captain thought that the reality of the moment was so short, they would have likely uttered nothing more than the exultation of arriving here. The sheer violence that the Alien ship had exacted on the Western Starr, was nothing short of being hit by Star, if such a thing was possible. Either way, the ship was incinerated in heart beat with just random pieces of material left among the dissipating plasma cloud.

The Commander of the Vessel was quite intrigued about exactly why the Vessel arrived and what for? However there are no bases for light years, as such this must have some kind of test.

"_Maybe problematic at a_ _future date, then again, if that ship was the top of the line, or a decent prototype,_ _no problem"_

The Captain was not naive enough to believe that fully, that ship could have been a hundred or more years old but that did not matter, orders were orders and for now, nothing sees his ship and survive.

**Bajor – Jalanda City**

**Present Time**

Lieutenant Joanne McHattie had been in the Café for some three hours up to now. The mark had yet to make an appearance, which was quite strange since she frequented the Café on a regular, if not daily basis. JoJo as McHattie is known, is not somebody you see again after an encounter. Mainly due to the fact that any said lifeforms are still alive after seeing her. The mark was one of those idiotic Bajorans whom believed that she sent by the Prophets. This all arose just because JoJo happened upon a fight taking place while bunking on DS9. She had saved some prat from offering out a Nausicaan, it transpired that the incident was viewed as an act of the Prophets.

Jojo pretty much felt that the Bajorans were backward enough already, even the Prophets seemed backwards according to her

"_Why would a so called advanced being, wish to confine themselves to a Wormhole? Is that evolution, I think not"_

JoJo was relieved when the mark walked into the Cafe and spotted JoJo right away and started to venture her way. The mark was able to make it halfway to the table that JoJo had selected, however JoJo knew that the mark had covered enough ground and with that thought, she was already standing with a false smile on her face. The next few moments in what seemed like a couple of heart beats, the mark went down hard clutching her chest in absolute agony. JoJo had reached out with her mind and locked on to the marks vital organ and made it explode. The overwhelming tiredness with that act, compelled JoJo to fall to the floor near her chosen table. Being only 23 years old, her mind was not as strong as her 25 year old Sister Sarah, yet.

As this was happening, the way that JoJo collapsed to the floor was a perfect mask and worked to enhance JoJo's cover. The mark that had been slain, just happened to be a member of a new reactionary group with political aims that JoJo had no interest other than the fact that the group had to be stopped.

"_Now what are they called again, the new Circle or something?, no matter, they cannot be allowed to incite hostility's with the Cardassians"_

The Cardassians have Intel that is needed concerning the Tholian Assembly. Couple that with the agent whom (a Gul from the 2nd Order) passes the Intel, the status quo has to be kept for now.

A few minutes had elapsed while JoJo was recovering her mental stability and this was the moment to leave the Café and ultimately escape the planet. She walked back to the rented home and activated her deployment beacon. Seconds later she materialised on the Scorpion Attack Shuttle's compact transporter pad and headed for the cockpit. Once she was under way, she headed to the refresher to remove the Holomask and Wig. Still feeling drained, sleep came quite easy.

"_I need a holiday with a nice 20th century style English Pub near"_

With that blissful thought, she hit the sack and was out quicker than the lights dimmed off.


	3. The USS Allectus

**The USS Allectus**

**March 2nd 2384 - Main Bridge of the USS Allectus**

**Morning Time**

In the five years that have followed the disappearance, numerous reasons were put forth that explained what had transpired, the problem was though that nobody actually had a clue. Starfleet Intelligence just simply had to be economical with the truth when it dealt with numerous inquiries, especially concerning the youngster whom had lost both parents in Paris and Torres. However the worst case had to have been the way Kinnet was pretty much held culpable for the entire incident.

"_Just like the politicos to hang a Sailor high and dry"_

Commander Sarah McHattie observed. She had been privy to some of the information garnered from the investigation

"_wait a minute, investigation? No, more like an inquisition" _Still Sarah mused "_I did get the promotion despite being considered a loose cannon after all" _

That made her chuckle out loud to the bemusement of the bridge Officers and Ratings. Most thought her to be way too casual. However they respected her and were slightly apprehensive too. She was a born Warrior despite being ¾ Human and ¼ Romulan. The reason for the general apprehension was simply because of the general aloofness towards all things Starfleet. She believes that the book is well and good and as a ranking Officer, the procedures are followed, but initiative can be a good companion. The Prime Directive would never be disobeyed, but if a hostile force is making first contact, being battle ready is not provocative, nor is thinking that the Federation is there to be loved by all. It is not and quite frankly is just a marriage of convenience for most. The Federation is not a sham as such, just too open at the beginning now.

"_why shoot torpedoes when we have flowers"_

Sarah trailed her thoughts back to the present "_lest I leak some inappropriate thoughts" _

"_Tactical, __what is the status of the new Fusion Particle Beam" _

_"We are experiencing a small amount of leakage looping back through the injector, but the new capacitor linked to the modified coil manifold with the bleed valve, should allow for the leakage to be injected back to the emitter and increase the power and stability of the beam maam"_

Right thought Sarah.

_"I asked you if it is operational Lieutenant Ellett" _

Not remembering the Lieutenants penchant for having the weapons systems wired into the ship so they are the fastest responding system. Unlike a normal Sovereign type, or even most Starfleet types, the weapons are not an afterthought.

_"Yes Commander, it is fully operational"_

Dismissing the Lieutenant, her thoughts returned to the current state of the Federation. Two things actually did not make sense. One was the fact the delegates on the surface of this planet that the Allectus was orbiting, made quite an issue about the Commander being on the surface. Maybe it was her telepathic mind, but any surface thoughts picked up were quite innocuous. The second thing was that the Frel as they appear to be known as, are not indigenous to this world. Their own home world suffered with high exposure to UV due to the pollution from waste that eroded the atmosphere layers and became an ecological nightmare. Fortunately for the Frel, they were already a space faring race and were now confined to traveling through space in a nomadic way.

Sarah sat there wondering if her intuition was correct. Some of the elements of this situation did not make much sense, irrespective of whether it was obvious or contradictory, there was something removed. Sarah thought that surely the Frel would have consulted at least one major power of the quadrant on habitable planets suitable for them, but no, they do not seem interested in that type of Intel.

"_some aspect of this does not smell right" _she continued with her trail of thoughts

"_also why would a space faring race need a home world"_

It was then that the thoughts of her intuition failing her, were dismissed outright, there was only one reason why such a planet would be needed. It did not matter that this world was what could be described as a "backwater planet" The logic suddenly descended into a horrible realization that sent a shiver down her being

"_this bloody planet is a deep ranged base that has... oh no"_

Captain Renford was nearing the end of his wits dealing with this conference. Renford also had some severe reservations about the Frel and their petition to join the Federation. On the face of it, they had some intriguing Hydroponics Systems in place on the surface and their ships. Renford was not privy to the technical aspects of this but they seem to have been able to fuse replicated Bio Engineered Matter and Organic Matter in the process. Not just replicated fare, but fully grown food, created in hours. That may not seem such a big deal, but just imagine being able to take a prefab building to a lunar type base, then have that building full of real food in a matter of hours.

Renford just could not shake a feeling of dread regarding all of this. Why would the Federation Council be so quick to agree to this conference. They know nothing of this race and what their history is.

"_Why too, can we not explore the surface" _

That was strange considering the Federation pretty much does nothing but explore thought Renford

_"No, something is not right"_

Renford came to the realization that he needed to talk to his number two. The Commander being Telepathic would suggest that the Frel have gone beyond paranoia, they had something to hide Renford mused. The Commander and other Officers such Lieutenant Talmey were specifically told to stay on the Allectus and not transport to the Planet.

Renford managed to excuse himself from the proceedings and made his way to a Com Point, all personal communicators and Tri-Corders were banned from the conference, and made the call

"_I won't have to say very much at all, that intuition of hers will portray all that needs to be said through those eyes"_

The Captain never let on verbally that he had in fact requested her for the position of First Officer. He needed a presence on the bridge in his absence and knew that the Commander did not need to be told what to do. She had Soldiers instinct and knew how think very quickly, sometimes more than needed. But high capacity for thinking is useful none the less, couple that with high intelligence, the Allectus would lend itself to her skills quite nicely.

Renford arrived at the Com Point and made the call. He did recall from training that cyberspace is what it is irrespective of what environment it was existed. Sure there would be subtle differences in the technology used, but in essence, cyberspace is what it is

"_Which means signals will or can be intercepted, however the signal attenuation will be monitored by the Commander due to her being a right arm you can truly trust, I like that feeling" _

Renford consoled himself. Doubt at that point became irrelevant for the Captain and he made the call.

Sarah was pleased that the Captain had a receptive mind, just how receptive was a mute point as he was Gay, but never the less he had caught the wisper and was now calling home.

"_Now to get Ops to bounce the signal leakage back to the ground, flood the transmission with noise and secure the bandwidth necessary to route the signal through a secure tunnel to Ops" _

The connection made, Sarah wasted no time in conveying her thoughts. This was Solider thinking and very basic, but this worked for her on numerous occasions.

"_This is red alert situation planet side, ship on yellow alert Sir and I recommend that you get the f... out of there NOW"_

Renford knew that the insubordinate language was for effect and that also there would be a transport link in the adjacent hangers to this main hall, probably a converted hanger too. The Captain made his way out of the corridor aiming for the main foyer. He reached that with no problem, however the platoon sized squad of Soldiers bearing down on him will be a problem.

**Cairn Home World - Federation Protectorate**

**Yellow Squad HQ**

**Present Time**

JoJo sat in the rest room and was digesting a rather tasty meal even before she had eaten it. The smell was absolutely incredible and was wafting pass her nose and making her hunger all the greater. The host was busy preparing a Lamb Hotpot, of which it was doubtful that any Human could match the culinary skills of Janos, a Cairn local. Janos was particularly impressed with certain Earth foods, the Hotpot being one of a few. JoJo was growing a little impatient with having to wait any longer.

" _A little mental prod will do it I believe"_

Just then the ladle started to float above the cooking pot. Janos equally adept with floating objects, floated the ladle back down into the cooking pot. The pair sat down and consumed the delicious food, JoJo was thinking that maybe a little Lancashire had rubbed off on Janus. After the meal, the pair of them retired to their rooms to peruse the next assignment details that they had been given. She dearly wanted to catch up with her Sister, for some reason she felt something was wrong. She new that Sarah was on a mission which Captain Renford did not have a particular liking for, he had said as much when JoJo had been at the Shenfield Yards based at Delnoz Prime, a Moon part of a deep ranged system 30 degrees to the magnetic north of Earth itself. The SSFD Troopers dubbed it Delp, as that was easier to say when drunk! However, JoJo hoped that the USS Allectus will be ok. JoJo fully intended to get on the replacements list. In fact she decided that would happen very shortly.


	4. The Reckoning

**The Reckoning**

**March 2nd 2384 – Frel Base**

**Present Time**

Renford stood in shock at what was facing him "D_o these popcorn farts actually intend to do me harm"_ Renford mused. He decided to approach the lead guy and ask what is the meaning of their posturing. A quick mental count revealed that there were 12 Soldiers in front of him and there are more above left front. The hanger must have an elevated platform behind the main hanger door mounts and Renford knew that meant only one plausible explanation for all of this and why the Federation delegates were here _"This is a killing field and we have walked into a trap" _ Renford moved forward to the lead guy.

The Frel sergeant watched the Fed approach. At this point orders were clear cut as usual, if in doubt kill. That was no problem in itself, the problem that could arise would be the discovery of the internal gun platform. The Fed ideally would need to redirected back to the Conference, the Sergeant and his squad are aware that their superiors know of the Com Point transmission and that the attempt to find the tracking station was quite inventive even with primitive technology _"that Fed ship does look nice_ _though,_ _maybe we should capture it" _The Sergeant thought.

Renford had now reached the sergeant and held his hand up to indicate no hostility intended. He was not sure of what to even say, but the impression of authority will be there all the same.

"_I am Captain Renford of the USS Allectus"_ he started _"What is the meaning of this display of hardware, I was given to believe that the hand of friendship was offered and no weapons will be needed, please tell me why?" _Renford finished.

"_What is happening is quite simple"_ the Sergeant began to reply through a rough translation. He could not remember the last time his speech centre was used. The Sergeant snapped himself back to the present

"_What is happening Captain Renford is that we are your mourners,_ y_ou have just died"_ the Sergeant wanted to add something sarcastic but decided not to.

Captain Renford's last thoughts were of shock and awe at what this Frel had done to him. Mercifully, the Frel Sergeant severed the Captains heart from the arteries so quickly and coupled with this suppressed his brain with a mind block so no pain would be felt. While lying there in the position he fell, Renford knew that it was minutes before he was brain dead and he was unaware of what has killed him. One last thought escaped him before the separation of life from the body on the ground _"Why"_

On the Allectus Sarah had been wondering how the attempts to trace the Com Point signal had failed. The best that Tactical could think of was that the technology possessed by the Frel was just superior. That in itself was quite frightening considering that the main Computer Core installed in the Allectus was the most advanced type Starfleet had created. Bio Cells and light transfer junctions fitted to Bio Fused traces. Her only concern was the new FPB cannon. Lieutenant Darren Ellett is not concerned and is a useful Weapons Engineer, so perhaps there is nothing to worry about. Apparently he is known as _"Inky"_ due to being able to Paint a target so precisely, that it looks like the target has been tattooed by the Multi Spectrum Target Assessor units on top of the Phaser Rifles. Sarah felt confident that the weapons systems would work. After all, the compliment of Phasers and Torpedo's, Transphasic and Quantum etc., are resident by design.

"_Ops, Any luck yet with the communications system planet side yet?" _Sarah asked Lt. Commander Frank Mullins

"_No maam"_ Mullins replied and continuing _"In addition to trying to break through, I have noticed that the planet has gone dark, no scans are getting through" _he finished.

Sarah did not reply but it was becoming oh so obvious that the Captain and the Allectus are in mortal danger. Sarah tried to probe again for the Captains mind, however the shield that is covering the planet is preventing any wispers or echo's leaving. Mind for mind there is no doubt that the Frel are a telepathic race and have harnessed this facet to their technology. Out there somewhere are their ships and no doubt weapons are trained on them right now. Time to address the crew. Still silent she realised she had wandered to the main view screen lost in thought. She made her way back to the Captains chair.

The Frel Commander sat in his office after having the charade in the main hall finished. Due to the nature of his mission, the Frel had to learn how to speak the earthers language. _"To be_ _convincing you have to feel the language"_ it had been said. It had been quite a painful process to tune in those vocal cords, but all the Frel had been successful. It was a pity that all the work to set this up has been wasted. The Commander summoned the over zealous Sergeant to his office.

"_Sergeant, take your gun to your head and shoot yourself now"_

"_yes Sir"_

The Frel Commander thought that at least a semblance of respectability could be recovered from this mess. The next two orders could make or break him. He contacted the Base Operations Hub and ordered that the Federation Delegates slaughtered, the second was for the Ship in orbit to be obliterated. Ground based Breachers were ordered to go hot. The first Gunner that gets the line of sight, they were to take the shot. The Breachers were on a straight line trajectory, so the target had to be lined up precisely to incinerate the target. The Breachers used super heated solar plasma combined with a micro fusion generator to create a beam that burns with the intensity of a Star. Dark Matter is infused with the Beam to create weight and harden the contact point with the target.

The Frel commander was interrupted by a mean looking General that seemed emotionless. He also seemed weary to the core, no doubt that this was the recent campaign that wiped out entire enemy Solar Systems.

"_General, what can I do for you?" _the Commander asked.

"_You can cleanse this galaxy for me so I can go back to my life"_

"_General I can assure you that the impure and non divine beings that exist in this Galaxy will be eradicated and the Frel will make this Milky Way Galaxy pure and divine"_

The Frel Commander revelled in the moment afforded him. Now had come the time to step up, he had to preach the message forged by death and destruction that layed waste to entire Solar Systems. Now was his time to be noticed. Promotion was slow for the Commander, but perhaps now chance will favour him. The Commander continued with his rhetoric.

"_We will walk across countless worlds and systems, this I promise you and I will be helping to bring peace to you"_

"_that you will Commander._

"_Yes Sir" _He replied with a sense of smugness.

Of course the Commander was forgetting that arrogance tends to breed across a species and ultimately lends itself towards that species destruction.

"_Good, you will head the strike force for the first ground action, You do not want to fail"_

**USS Allectus – Main Bridge**

**30 Minutes Later**

The USS Allectus was now at Red Alert. Sarah knew that as of now, she was the Captain of this ship, it will become her ship until promoted or relieved. She did not have any more time to dwell, four ships appeared out of nowhere on the port and starboard. The strange looking ships with shovel looking forward section and what looks like six arms arrayed in a concentric pattern. Each arm had some kind of box linked into the arm. Estimated length must be about 850 meters and they outmatch the Allectus in size at least. Depending on armour and shields if any, the hull size is still indicative of something with power to burn. In this case the energy readings emanating from the Frel Vessels suggested power output in the high Exawatt range. It will just depend on what output their weapons occupy

"_They are Warships and we are boned most likely, but everything has a weakness" _Sarah mused.

Sarah conferred with Ops, asking if the Quantum Generators are jump ready and what the scans are showing. Up to this point no messages were received either, but the Allectus was going to stand to until they were fired upon or the Captains fate was disclosed. Sarah couldn't care less about the bureaucrats though. The Allectus crew did not have any reservations of standing their ground and fighting. However, in this instance fighting another time would be a better idea. Helm was standing by to scoot at moments notice.

"_We appear to be no match for them, so why are they just sitting here, they have no need to gloat" _Sarah spoke out loud, but to no one in particular. Lieutenant Ellett replied.

"_They are probably awaiting orders to let us go, they will want to keep their weapons under wraps if they can" _

"_They will let us go because of that" _Sarah not seeing the reasoning of that.

"_Trust me I know my weapons and I would venture that the Frel will not want to embroil themselves in a tussle with us, at least not at this juncture maam"_

Lt. Commander Mullins spoke next agreeing with Elletts assessment and offered.

"_The Frel would not want to fire because even if we are destroyed, the end result is the same, they seem to have a need to keep their prowess quiet until the right time. Why is the question obviously._

"_What are you suggesting then Frank?" _Sarah keenly interested in hearing all her Officers insights and wanted Mullins continue the flow.

"_Well it would be somewhat obvious that the Frel have acted out a scene from a play with our visit here. We all realise now that the likely hood is that Captain Renford has been slain along with all of the Federation delegates. Now the question would be how far have the Frel infiltrated the Federation Council. This is all conjecture of course I might add. I don't see how it can be viewed any other way now, it would be my own opinion that the Federation hierarchy has been compromised Captain"_

Ensign Tec'co was also in agreement but spared everybody the usual Vulcan type answer, and the others nodded ascent. The order was given to jump to Slipstream and contact Starfleet Command. They all knew that whoever they spoke with at Starfleet Headquarters, monitor very closely.

The Frel Commander was relieved that he did not meet the same fate as the Sergeant. _"The General has now left for the Galactic Gateway and left the situation in my control"_ the Frel Commander reflected. He was also sure that the Commander of the Allectus will return. He had felt a presence in that Com Point transmission. This Commander McHattie had a strong mind and was strong in will and body. It was obvious that she was a Solider, albeit a extremely clever one, and knew how to lead properly.

"_a dangerous mind is a powerful weapon"_ he mused.

The Frel Commander conscious of the need to stay incognito with the weapons, ordered two of the ships to withdraw. The other two were to draw in the Allectus. The Frel commander then decide to leave the burden of annihilating the Allectus to the lead ship Captain then retired to his quarters. Of course the Frel Commander was unaware that at the very next second he gave the orders, the Allectus left.

**Cairn Homeworld - Federation Protectorate**

**Yellow Squad HQ**

**Present Time**

JoJo had finished eating the Lamb Hotpot and now was in the conference room that was where all the Yellow Squad Infiltrators met. The front of the building has three units facing north with a couple of small shops and of course the café. Behind these three units is a solid wall that contains three lift shafts. These were built for the owners to compensate for having the unit storage reduced. In addition to this, the lower foundations were modified and strengthened. The old south facing storage space was then built into the YSHQ. However, rather than having an entrance built into the southern side of the building, the delivery points were sealed up and and a series of panels were attached to the walls and ceiling. A holographic emitter system was installed in the centre of the north and south divide of the building. If any hostile decided to get any ideas of storming the YSHQ, they would be funnelled towards the middle. The emitter used variable frequency's to allow passage via a Bio Patch under the palm of each Infiltrators left hand. The bio patch basically just changed polarity via sensors and anybody without one, well..

JoJo was now receiving orders from the Starfleet Special Forces Directorate based in Frisco. The Cardassian contact wants to arrange a meet to divulge the information that the SSFD needed. As per usual with any Cardassian, the price is high. Fortunately the average Cardassian is not stupid, as such a deal should be easier to accomplish. The orders came through and the meet was to be on an old settlement world in the demilitarised zone.

"_How very droll"_ JoJo thought.

That area of space has no real value to colonists any more, the Dominion laid waste to most of the habitable spheres. The meet was to happen in 18Hrs time so she decided to use a Flyer to get there. Speed or travel time was not the issue, rather the equipment. This time would be tricky, an Infiltrator is an Assassin after all.

**Federation Space**

**Two Hours On**

Waiting for the response from Starfleet Command, Sarah's thoughts reflected on the Allectus and how she had came to be. The Sovereign was 685 meters with plenty of scope to upgrade. The biggest change was to the emphasis of the function of the ship. No longer exploring but reconnaissance in force. The Federation needed warships and thus decided to make the Sovereign the template of a true warship, although a limited amount of bureaucrats agreed. The NX aspect came from the outer hull modification and also because it just seemed logical to follow the Starfleet trend since Jonathan Archer. A hardened Bio Synthetic Molecular Armoured skin was added and tempered. The only other major mods were the Main Gun emplacements on fixed mounts, at least externally, The place that was decided on was on port and starboard sides. All of the necessary deck space was taken. 5 decks were modified for the guns and power equipment plus a maintenance corridor. The other would be the engine struts with four armoured nacelles. Also fitted along points of the hull were what are known as Slip Thrusters. They utilise micro bursts of Slipstream conditions to give the Allectus superb all round manoeuvrability. Other improvements in performance with new gadgets, the Holographic Battle Display was really quite cool as well as being deadly in the right hands.

New Computer Cores have been installed and Bio Gel Packs are used throughout the Ship. On a homelier front, a proper galley was built and also shower units installed in the Officer and Crew quarters. They have independent water supply's and occupy the same space as a Sonic unit.

A couple of hours later, initial proposals are being considered was what Starfleet Command were saying. Once it was confirmed that no warp signatures were behind them, it had been concluded that the Frel were not interested in following and that fact would afford some time to formulate a plan. Sarah knew though that the Allectus will have to go in for a hit and run. Starfleet will need to know at least something about those ships.

"_Commander, message from the office of Admiral Polookie"_

Sarah now knew what was coming. She indicated for the message to be read.

"_Commander McHattie, in one hour please be by the communicator in the Captains ready room, the Admiral wishes to speak to you, that is all"_

Great she thought with a widening grin._"Well, in one hour I will be fired or hired as it were, what Captain or upper command will take this on"_

**Note: The next three are almost ready with C6 Thoughts and Actions being a bit of a pain. For some inexplicable reason, I decided to write down most of it rather than type a draft. Too used to a notepad I guess. Anyway, I hope Thoughts and Actions reads well and is enjoyable. Laters.**


	5. The Point Where Life Begins

**The Point Where Life Begins**

**Main Bridge – USS Allectus**

Sarah made her way to the Captains ready room. At Thirty years of age, maybe she is too young for being a Captain. Maybe that is right but Sarah lacked self confidence when it came to certain things. On this occasion though, she had the belief that she was right.

"_Go in there and tell this Admiral that the Allectus is mine" _Sarah turned on the monitor and auto activation took over. The Admiral loomed large literally.

"_Commander McHattie, due to outstanding reports from Captain Renford regarding your leadership and overall quality's, I hear by give you the command of the Allectus by promotion to Captain. Furthermore your choice of promotions of existing crew must have consultation from us, is that clear Captain"_

"_Yes Sir, understood completely sir. May I enquire as to why"_ Sarah's blood boiling slightly asked.

"_Nothing personal Captian"_

"_Understood completely Sir"_

The Admiral then ended the transmission and that left Sarah with a little time to reflect.

The list as according to Sarah includes Lavorawho is a Trill_, _Tec'co a Vulcanand with Shallock theAndorian. A good mix there Sarah reflected. Of course the Allectus had the usual Betazoid in Daska as Ships Councillor.

Sarah did not obviously like the idea of being told whom can serve with her in that fashion. She reflected that the Admiral probably did not have a clue what the Allectus actually did on a daily basis. She needs and craves for the special types of Starfleet personal, not regular crews and Officers picked on academic prowess.

Another hour had passed and the orders came through. As suspected the Allectus will indeed have to provide a little show, although the mission is voluntary.

"_Yeah yeah whatever"_ Sarah was wanting to reply to the message.

That would have been counter productive but funny all the same for her. The next task will be for her to address the crew and find out if Ellett has completed the mods to the Main Guns. According to Ellett though, they are his guns. He was on the team that installed the original ground based platform test kit that fired low yield particles. After that the test kit was moved to Ganymede for more low yield testing and stress testing on the components. Once particle stream density and the Quantum Fusion process was working within the set parameters, the weapon had been moved to a towed platform for full testing. The Main Guns then installed three months ago with the then Lieutenant charged with getting them to work. The main installation had been handled by the Ships Engineering Department and a selected few picked from various stations and the main fleet yards at Utopia Planitia, all under secrecy.

Oh well back to the task at hand. This is going to be the first address from the new Captain of the Allectus.

"_Time to address the crew"_ she knew.

"_Attention all hands this is the Captain speaking. In ten minutes we are leaving for the Frel Base. Our task will be to engage one of the Frel ships which are to be treated as hostile"_

She continued trying to emphasize the inherent danger with her voice, but that will not work due to having a calm persona. Still she continued.

"_I must point out that this is a voluntary mission only. Any Officer or crew member that wishes to leave the ship please do so now. Iit will be not noted in your record. You have eight minutes to disembark. That is all and good luck to us and the Allectus. She will not let us down"_

A series of questions regarding ship status were asked and orders were given to make ready the Allectus for hostile engagement. All that remains is wait for the surprising number of eighteen crew and two Officers to disembark. Sarah could not blame them really. It is a suicide mission that has been given to Sarah. However there are certain freedoms at my disposal.

"_If only they had afforded some trust. However, __I don't blame them but they are now going sideways career wise"_ Sarah mused.

"_Ops how long"_

"_Five minutes Captain"_

"_Very good"_

Unfortunately for Sarah, having such beauty as a person, did not lend itself to her overall being. Having being born a Girl was bad enough for her Father, but being blessed with unbelievable natural beauty was the killer. He simply harboured the bigoted view of women. She never did find out why her father wanted boys only, but she did not care. She strove to be the kind of child he could relate to, she practised several Martial Arts, trained her muscles to perfection. It did not matter because until she had the ability to recognise her own beauty, she would grow as a person. She was yet to learn that good looks are pleasing, but for those that know, inner beauty is the evolution of the soul. When you can recognise the inner beauty of a person or any life forms, you can touch the stars, and cherish life and understand life.

Sarah always thought that no one would follow her or listen to her as she yearned for. Even now with the promotion, self deprecation is still evident. Always thinking that fear of is what compels the people under to follow her. She never stopped to consider the question why. She thought back to a Master that she had trained under. He had a wizened mind and was deftly quick even for a Andorian. On the last day of her training, the Master decided to bestow on her this quote. Sarah sat there reciting it in her mind.

"_Order needs chaos to make sense of any order"_

"_Chaos needs order to define what order is" "_

"_Order needs Chaos to win"_

"_Chaos has already won, because you cannot have order without chaos"_

"_And without Chaos"_

"_We do not learn"_

"_We do not evolve"_

"_And for those that believe"_

"_We do not die"_

"_We go beyond the rim"_

Now she started to grasp what that meant. The Master had felt that it would be needed one day. Sarah just sat there locked in thought

"_Is it really that simple? Jojo has always appeared to grasp that concept a long time ago. Christ, if the Frel even know what I am going to do to them, I sincerely hope they do not meet the Assassin of light"_

**Main Engineering**

Lieutenant Ellett had been working on the particle density initially to get that beam heavier with the intent of causing a greater collision with hull or whatever object is struck. The phasing coils though are still a little problematic and the weak link at the moment. Different tech in play here so a new emitter unit is going to be installed once the Lieutenant has fabricated a couple or more. Ellett has had to employ the help of the Chief Petty Engineering Officer Abbot. A 62 year old veteran who has actually retired from front line service, he was on board still when the crew of the Allectus had leave, the Chief had to stay behind. And now because the previous Chief Engineer decided to leave, Abbot was left as default.

A big problem that Ellett had figured was the relays between the gun interface and the main ship. There was a bug in there somewhere, so Lieutenant Ellett had devised a way to skip the interface and have a direct line from the weapon controls. A dedicated route was set up from the weapon controls to the Tactical Station on the Bridge.

Ellett was astounded when he first met the Captain. He thought the Captain had a body to die for.

"_He just could not help thinking at least once about those full and supple breasts, the sweet scent of her nether regions, just wanting to taste the air around her, feel the faint but the soft allure of skin on skin, the soft touch of her back, making the surrender so much more intoxicating, the scent ever closer, the first touch, the joining ….."_

Ellett was snapped back to reality by the Chief.

"_Two minutes Inky"_

"_Right"_

His head was blown for the moment. Aby had pretty much noticed that Lieutenant Ellett had been thinking about the Captain again. He could not blame him either, quite a dish.

"_Probably best that you do not think about the Captain again. Mary would probably be more fierce that the Frel. _

"_Yeah noted Aby. Mary would be pissed"_

"_Aby are the weapons ready"_

"_Yes Sir. They are ready to dispense some pain"_

The Lieutenant Ellett agreed with the Chiefs assessment.

"_Now we show them that giants are not impervious to pain"_


	6. The Spirits Of Life Follow You

**The Spirits Of Life Follow You**

The Allectus entered slipstream at a reduced speed giving thirty minutes to contact. Almost immediately the ship received an audio message and coordinates. It had simply said meet here. The vector was still straight ahead so a jump out would not be necessary. The time was put at twelve minutes. Throughout the journey the ship had been wondering what was afoot. Mullins had hedged a bet with Talmey that is was the Enterprise. His theory being that Captain Picard would cite the secrecy as unconstitutional and would compel himself to get involved. Must be close to retirement soon Mullins wagered.

"_He must be eighty and a day"_ he chuckled to himself. No more than five minutes later they jumped out of slipstream and low and behold, there she was, the Enterprise E. Mullins looking over at Talmey thinking that this was another free dinner.

Lieutenant Dean Talmey as Chief Security Officer was at his console going through the usual verifications and checks despite the fact the Enterprise would be hard to fake but not the comms. The Frel are still an unknown quantity, it was prudent though to check.

Captain McHattie asked if everything checks out without looking at Talmey.

"_Dean"_

"_Affirmative Captain"_

"_That is the Enterprise and recognition codes check"_

"_We are being hailed Ma'am"_

Sarah ordered hailing frequency's open and saw the familiar face of Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

She had never met him in person before and was somewhat intrigued as to he deemed it necessary to bring the Enterprise here. Sarah had thought that he had retired from active service, so she thought that either the Enterprise is not supposed to be here or further orders are forthcoming.

Picard was standing in front of the Allectus view screen in holographic form.

"_Captain McHattie"_

" _I apologise for the abruptness of the request for your presence"_

"_However I feel that it was best to meet here and discuss initially Captain to Captain regarding this situation"_

"_Would you and your senior staff please join us on the Enterprise"_

Sarah was actually a little stunned at this this. To her it seemed blatantly obvious now that Picard is privy to something that she and the Allectus crew are not.

"_Certainly Captain Picard"_

"_we will make our way immediately"_

"_Thank you Captain and we will meet your contingent at transporter room 3"_

"_Enterprise out"_

**USS Enterprise Ready Room**

Facing the Enterprise Officers were Sarah flanked by acting 1st Officer Ellett, Security Chief Talmey and Chief of Operations Mullins. Facing the Allectus Officers, were Captain Picard with Commander Brent, Security Chief Domo and Lieutenants Frazer and Jones. Captain Picard was quite astonished that Starfleet Command would agree to such folly. Then again the idea has a sound base but rather misguided all the same. Picard had discussed this move to rendezvous with the Allectus and the word sanctimonious had come to all their minds but the Officers under Picard were more aware of the consequences that could befall anybody foolhardy enough to carry out what has been proposed.

Picard gestured that everybody should be seated. Once everybody was, Picard started.

"_First of all I welcome you to the Enterprise and may I present to you 1__st__ Officer Brent, Security Chief Lieutenant Domo and with Lieutenants Frazer of Tactical and Jones the Science Officer"_

Sarah was perplexed as why the meeting had been arranged but did not harbour any mistrust of the situation. Picard may not have been a James T Kirk, but he was a still a legend none the less.

Sarah continued herself with the introductions.

"_Captain Picard may I present my 1__st__ Officer Lt. Commander Mullins, Security Chief Lieutenant Talmey and Lieutenant Ellett at Tactical"_

Sarah knew that the particular Officers in the room were clearly contrived on both sides. Both sets of crews knew that both Federation ships had the same overall goal even without meeting.

Sarah continued on and made a point of stating her confusion.

"_Captain Picard this situation for us has become somewhat confusing, why have you requested our presence. The Allectus has a mission most grave"_

Picard was astounded by this young Captains air of confidence. The Captain new war and how to fight one, Picard was reflecting.

"_Captain McHattie I am sure you have many questions. However your situation has dictated that I must share information regarding the Frel base. In addition to that information being digested by you and your crew, the Enterprise will accompany you to the mission end"_

Sarah was baffled as to why the Enterprise would risk so much up to this point. The answer was now clear, the Enterprise has scan data of the planet and Picard has formulated a plan to come out alive. Sarah had only one response.

"_Very well Captain Picard, we will peruse the files submitted to us and talk later, shall we say one hour"_

"_very well Captain. The Enterprise will look forward to that"_ Picard concluded.

**USS Allectus Main Bridge**

The information files were now with Ensign Tec'co at Science. Rather than being routed through security or ops, Tec'co was a genius with pattern recognition, whatever the data type, it would be sent like Tec'co was a computer. No one dared ask how she did it, but do it she did. Tec'co had answered the same with all the curious looks in her direction.

"_It would be illogical for one to explain the particulars of what one does"_

Tec'co now had enough data to speculate.

"_Captain it would appear that the Frel base is one that caters for Scout ships. The Enterprise has being monitoring the area for some time. The scans revealed a certain type of ship had arrived in orbit all of the time apart from the four other ships recently"_

Sarah thought to herself that this is quietly significant. The Enterprise had obviously picked this up too and had been in discussion about what to do before the Allectus was dispatched to the base. They clearly had enough information however speculative that maybe, as to what the intentions were regarding the Frel and their base. The recent hostile action only acted to substantiate the speculation on the Enterprise, Picard and the others knew that the conference was a complete ruse and Picard was determined to know why. The only thing open to Sarah now was to contact Picard and ask the only question she had.

"_Allectus to Enterprise, this is Captain McHattie. May I speak with Captain Picard in his ready room"_

"_Allectus from Enterprise your request is confirmed and please await transport"_

Sarah thought that a little quick, but not a problem. If it had been any other Captain and ship, a mind rape would have been in reserve, on this occasion though Sarah was quite calm and collected.

The transport was to pad 3 again. Sarah suspected that this was for effect as several crew members of the Enterprise were milling around doing nothing in particular. Picard was obviously curious of her level of authority and wanted to judge her before reaching the ready room. Commander Brent was two years older than him and seemed a little arrogant towards her. At that moment Brent walked into the transporter room.

"_Time to take him down a level"_ Sarah decided

"_1__st__ Officer Brent, it is customary to meet a Captain on time and you are late"_

"_Sorry Ma'am will not happen again"_

Sarah was disappointed at the immediate capitulation and wondered how this man was 1st Officer. No one could match Captain Riker in that regard, but still.

"_Very well Commander. Please escort me to Captain Picard"_

Captain Picard received Captain McHattie with a welcome and warm smile. He had already guessed that McHattie had put Brent in his place and he did not look happy. Picard motioned for Sarah to sit down and dismissed Brent.

"_What can I do for you Captain McHattie"_

"_Please call me Sarah"_

"_Well I was wondering why if those scans were used by Starfleet Command"_

Picard could see that Sarah was thinking strategically over this. He reflected that is a good sign and she should be well equipped for the task at hand.

"_Well Sarah, and please call me Jean-Luc, the information regarding the Scout ships was obviously passed on. However Starfleet in their infinite wisdom chose not to investigate. They believed that approaching the Frel through diplomatic channels was the correct course of_ _action"_

Picard continued with Sarah listening intently. This seemed all too usual for Starfleet Command, always thinking defensive in all things Federation.

"_Any approach to the Scout ships was deemed a provocative move and Starfleet again felt it prudent to move through the diplomatic process, they felt that anything else may well be construed as an act of espionage"_

Picard continued with the explanation and was careful to emphasize the mystery surrounding all of this.

"_It is inconceivable to me as well as you Sarah as to why the Federation Council decided to proceed. T__he limited information could have been supplemented by the casual scans of routes, ships and such like. The Enterprise was ordered to not engage with any dialogue between the Frel ships that were discovered. In short a total communication black out was enacted and any Frel ships were to be given right of way in a system that any Starfleet ships that happened to be in the vicinity of"_

Picard finished by explaining that he had endeavoured to find out what is actually going on through several contacts of various ranks. However no one was in the loop or just not talking. The latter being quite understandable when the contacts were on various sensor and tracking stations

"_This sounds like Jean-Luc that a wall of silence has gone up, and that I can understand for a first contact situation that could potentially garner new technology from. However, that would be after initial contact surely and not when the process has met conference stage talks"_

Sarah decided to outline her thoughts on why the conference was held and Picard seemed to be very interested in her point of view.

"_It is obvious that the secrecy has been heightened to the maximum. This leads myself to believe that only one answer is applicable. Starfleet Command along with Council and then the President, had decided that the procurement of new technology was irresistible and had decided get in bed with the Frel as it were, but they failed in that attempt. They were obviously blinded by whatever was on offer irrespective of intent for that technology"_

Sarah continued that it was her belief that the Frel drew the negotiating team in with promises of whatever. The hydroponic technology would have been at the core of all this. At first the meetings would have been conducted with the usual pomp and ceremony. However not too far along the process, the Frel would have taken command of the process Sarah was explaining.

"_So you see Jean-Luc, the intention all along was pure espionage on the part of the Frel and draw us in and take what they want"_

Picard was fascinated by this. He had did not find the motives fully plausible but the speculation did seem to fit. The only fly in the ointment was that the Federation had strict prime directive protocols to follow, as such he did not believe that the President and so on would trash those ideals for new technology. However the situation is clear, until the Council decides what to do, The Allectus and the Enterprise needs to investigate. Picard continued the conversation.

"_I do see the logic behind your thought process on this. However, I do find hard to believe that the council would forsake the ideals of the Federation. Some errant Officers maybe, but more importantly why would they and how would they have arrived at the decisions made" _

Sarah continued. _"That is easy Jean-Luc the Frel are a telepathic race and not just that either Jean-Luc. The Frel have combined the power of the mind with their technology. That is how this whole first contact occurred. The problem is that I just have to prove how and why"_

Picard that sat there utterly stunned by what he had heard the young Captain say. It suddenly dawned on him why the Allectus had been chosen. It had been a set up that had cost the life of a veteran Captain in Renford. Sarah McHattie is an extremely strong telepath and that would be why the Allectus was chosen. Renford had been a highly regarded Captain and capable diplomat, his 1st Officer though was the clincher.

"_Sarah I now see the why over all of this"_ Picard spoke up unaware that Sarah could not help pick up the surface thoughts.

"_Jean-Luc I understand the dilemma that you face. I need no more than surface thoughts to determine that you are considering charging back to Earth. And quite frankly that will not aid anybody in this situation. If the Federation Council, and that is still an if at this juncture, has been infiltrated by whatever means, most of the vessels under the flag must be deemed suspicious. Who knows what influence is being served for the Frel needs. Jean-Luc it is quite simple, we have to go in and let rip"_

Picard knew that there was no other way and resigned himself to the possibility that a hit and run will fail.

"_Agreed. Remember though Sarah, the Enterprise is still not a combat vessel and as such, we could not hope to match the Allectus is skill and training. However I do believe that our scientific skills could be of benefit, we scan and you shoot"_

Sarah tried to shield the typical Soldiers attitude concerning what could transpire at the Frel base. However Jean-Luc Picard not been known to run from a nasty confrontation, In this instance the Warrior in Sarah dictated that the approach would be vastly different.

"_Perhaps the two philosophy's could compliment each other" _Sarah thought to herself.

"_Don't worry Jean-Luc, __I have already assumed that the loss of the Western Starr was solely down to a Frel ship. T__hey have powerful weapons but so do we and the Allectus harbours a few more tricks up her Nacelles. Plus Chef can cook up a few quantum and transphasic omelettes"_

Picard was not sure he followed her sense of humour but with an hour elapsed from the Allectus leaving the Starbase, Picard knew he would have to be quick.

"_Sarah I think it is prudent that the Senior Officers should meet in the ready room. Shall we say ten minutes?"_

"_I concur"_

"_Ten minutes then"_

**Ready Room USS Enterprise**

Captain Picard was joined by his senior staff in the ready room to discuss the latest revelation, or in the very least, circumstantial enough to warrant the Enterprise getting involved. He also wanted to confer with Captain Geordi La Forge, but was not quite sure how to at this juncture.

"_All in good time"_ Picard reflected.

The Officers from the Enterprise were still a little unsure about what is happening but most assumed that they would be creating some pain.

"_Ladies and gentlemen you know why we are here and what we are about to do. The Enterprise will accompany the Allectus to the Frel base and I want Ops and Tactical to coordinate with each respective unit"_

"_The Allectus will bring the heavy weapons to bare while the Enterprise will offer close fire support"_

"_It is the belief between Captain McHattie and myself that the Frel are a dangerous proposition and will harness their telepathic prowess with their weapon systems. We will prevail and god speed to all of us. We leave in ten minutes and that is all"_

The two respective crews got about their business ready for the confrontation.


	7. Thoughts And Actions

**Thoughts and Actions**

The Allectus and the Enterprise E entered the system some distance out. Helm reported the hostiles are 200K out. However, they are not making any moves to intercept. Sarah ordered a full stop while passive scanning the system with the information provided by Picard regarding vessel movements. The ships had a somewhat unique signature, and assuming that Transwarp is utilized by the Frel, it would not be difficult to separate them from other transmissions.

"_Commander Mullins, have you detected any other vessels?"_

There was and the Commander explained that a Viridian trader appears to be on the north side of the Planet, although it is not known what it is doing. Mullins ventured that a transport is likely to be in operation round that point of orbit. Once again Sarah was intrigued over how Commander Frank Mullins seems to be able to speculate and be very accurate as well.

"_Ok Commander, how so?"_ Sarah asked trying to hide her look of amusement.

"_Well Captain, the Frel don't seem to have much need for planetary shuttles. Second, the orbital platform on that side of the planet seems sufficient for their needs and it looks to have a sub orbital tractor beam. Of course that is speculation, but the tractor pulse mechanism may well add some credence to my theory Captain"_

"_So no transporters then" _Lieutenant Berg unconsciously cut in before Sarah could reply.

"_That would be unlikely"_ Tec'co commented. Sarah could see Tec'co's reasoning, but asked her to elaborate on her comment.

"_Well Captain, it would seem reasonable to speculate that the Frel have shield systems that do not cater for molecular transportation systems. I believe the Commander is right in that assessment regarding the tractor beam. The planetary shield has, how would you Humans say, swamped the area"_

Interesting Sarah mused. This speculation made sense to her and apparently the Bridge crew as well. She asked the only question that could give the Allectus and Enterprise an advantage, with or without transporters.

"_So then Tec'co, due to the nature of what we know of the Frel shield, you are saying that molecular transportation would be likely impossible to accomplish?"_

"_Not impossible Captain, but very difficult"_ Commander Mullins was noticing that the young Vulcan was looking a little uncomfortable even for one of her race. He picked up the conversation.

"_Captain, I would wager that if the shield is being controlled or manipulated by the Frel minds, a sudden change caused by material appearing or the reverse, would no doubt cause a series of fluctuations in the Frel thought process. This of course based on what we believe about the Frel currently" _Mullins continued.

"_However, I would again wager that the defensive systems are what they are. It is just coincidence that the use of transporters, are not utilized like us. After all, beaming through shields is difficult even for the Borg. The tractor beam would likely be harmonized to the shield frequency. That would be easier to control being fixed matter if you will"_

Sarah agreed with this assessment as a normal transport has to occupy two areas of space for a fraction. She could see how opening a part of the shield with a reversed polarity, could facilitate a modified tractor beam. The speculation was interrupted by Lieutenant Berg. All eyes looked towards the main view screen and clearly saw two Frel Destroyers positioning themselves forward of the planet and with the system sun behind them. A clever tactic Sarah thought.

"_Captain Enterprise hailing" the duty Officer at Ops declared with evident excitement in his voice"_

"Very well Ops, put her through" The view screen remained the same while a holographic image of Picard appeared on the bridge between Berg and the main view screen. Instructions were relayed for the Enterprise to keep below and aft of the Allectus for now. In the coming battle Picard was asked to keep the Enterprise to a secondary firing and control stance. It was Sarah's intention for the Allectus to bring her weapons to a frontal assault with the Enterprise letting loose with a barrage of torpedoes. The Tactical Battle Display was ordered to be brought up and the main view screen went blank. While this was occurring, a series of holo projectors fired up to replace the image with a 3D representation for the coming engagement. This switch over was entirely seamless as the technology was yet to mature, but to the trained eyes of the bridge crew, it was seamless enough. Ops informed Sarah that the Frel Destroyers are making a move to close down the Sovereigns.

"_Right now some Klingon Opera would be apt, one of their more colorful balls against the walls epics"_ Sarah mused.

A few minutes passed and now the Allectus and Enterprise were approaching maximum firing range of what would be effective.

"_Charge all Phaser banks and keep them hot, bring main guns online and prepare lock"_

In that moments end, Sarah ordered Lieutenant Ellett to prepare a spread of Torpedoes. Three would be the standard Photonic flavor, the other three with a standard quantum warhead. The Allectus uses a first generation Multi Type Launcher, the second will employ gravity streaming, which uses a dual breach loader which can load in quick succession. Lieutenant Ellett reported that tubes loaded and ready to fire. Thirty seconds to go before hell is unleashed was added by someone, but Sarah was not too bothered, she agreed with the sentiment.

"_All hands this is the Captain, prepare to engage hostiles and above all, trust in those next to you and we will come through this. Any hostiles beam aboard or by any other means, they die. That is all"_

Five seconds to go Ops almost screamed. Sarah gestured with her hand rather than thought to calm the duty Officer. Mentally probing, she already knew that Commander Mullins, Lieutenants Ellett and Talmey were like ice, fire and brimstone rolled into one. Lieutenant Berg was hard to read but appeared too serene sometimes, the only thing important was he was up for some Starship gymnastics as always.

"_The Frel going hot Captain" _Lieutenant Ellett alerted.

"_Target starboard hostile with Main Guns and port hostile with Torpedo's and keep an active track, I want collision feedback on all six"_

"_Hostiles painted Captain"_ lieutenant Ellett confirmed.

"_Fire"_ Sarah ordered with some venom behind the command.

The Allectus unleashed two deep Blue beams of destruction with the outer edges of the beams translucent. The beams around a meter in circumference, made their way towards the Frel Destroyer. The heavy particle composition with Nadion's encompassed with Antimatter charged Quantum State Particles, slammed straight through the Destroyer shields and sliced off the two top arms. The Frel Destroyer though, had fired almost at the same time resulting in a matched cause and effect. Four ionic type bolts slammed straight through the Allectus forward shields and impacted on the Portside Main Gun. They did not dissipate though and the bolts continued on through deck after deck. In a matter of seconds or less, a sixty meter diameter hole was left on the saucer to port. Sarah ordered Berg to get the Allectus 90 degrees up and over the Destroyer bow on. At the same time Commander Mullins had ordered damage control teams to segregate the damaged Portside area form the other systems. Damage control teams were going to busy with all areas including the Bridge needing some attention. He was still at a loss as to how the Allectus took such punishment and was still able to fight.

Moments later, a massive explosion occurred to starboard as the second Frel Destroyer just seemed to erupt in a massive fireball. Just as quick, the fireball collapsed leaving nothing more than chunks of hull and other debris including the odd body.

"_Captain, forward tubes loaded and ready to fire, firing solution set for confined area"_ Lieutenant Ellett called.

"_Fire amidships"_ Sarah responded.

Six Quantum Torpedoes streaked out towards the Destroyer at what was pretty much point blank range in terms of distance. The six Torpedoes were carrying enough speed to have sufficient energy to slam home in tight together and rock the Destroyer on its dorsal side amidships tearing of chunks of hull and exposing power conduits. The Allectus fired her remaining starboard Main Gun and sliced the Destroyer in half. The resultant explosion luckily threw the two half's and other debris away from the Allectus. The Enterprise however, was not so fortunate. The Portside pylon was sheared off and damage sustained to the area around the pylon mounts. Luckily only slight damage to the hull and internal bulkheads. Picards team had surmised that after the initial volley from the Destroyer, the Frel either deliberately missed or they just dropped the shot. Even more fortunate was that a volley of Quantum Torpedoes, struck an area and fractured that part of the Destroyer. It was still to be determined exactly where, but both Federation crews were eager to learn where and why. In the meantime a retreat was ordered. No specific destination was cited, just get the hell out of there to treat wounds both flesh and metal.

"_Commander Mullins, how are we holding up?"_

"_Well Captain, we have significant damage to the Portside section of the saucer. The area is completely open to space and all power conduits are shut down. Power relays and all other equipment has been shut down three sections back to the reinforced bulkheads. This will allow any residual charges to dissipate on their own without the danger of receiving brown or black outs. The primary core power distribution matrix is operating at capacity. However, the primary power systems are critically affected, as are backups. The worst news is Captain is that we have lost a bank of Slip Thrusters. Quantum field manipulation will be difficult Ma'am"_

"_Can we still manage to jump to Slipstream and maintain a stable field?_

"_Well Captain I would say that under these circumstances, the choice is a limited one"_

"_Very well. Lieutenant Ellett what is the status of the weapons and shields?"_

"_Captain, the remaining main gun while operational, will compromise the main hull if we fire again. Portside phaser Arrays have gone and we have two remaining on the Starboard side. Aft secondary arrays are operational but we have no tubes operating"_

"_Lieutenant Berg. Do we have enough power to tow the Enterprise through slipstream?_

"_I believe so …."_

"_lieutenant?"_

"_We have another vessel approaching Ma'am and it would appear to be a Frel vessel. Our long range sensors are down and what is left of our scanning capability is on passive only. They are broadcasting their position to us. ETA 10 minutes"_

"_Tec'co, take over secondary ops station and get the tractor beam ready"_

Sarah then got the Enterprise on the com and explained that they would have to try and tow the Enterprise through Slipstream. To try and take the strain of the Tractor beam, several Flyers will be latching onto the hull of the Enterprise to help with the tow.

"_Berg"_

"_Standby, initiating quantum tear, capacitors fully charged and the core is responding. Here we go"_

A Yellowish dot appeared of the bow of the Allectus which rapidly grew in diameter with the inner part chasing the outer part of the newly formed ring of Quantum Spatial matter. Compensating for the Gravitational surge, the deflector apparatus linked to the Core, guided the the surge over and around the Allectus while the Slip thrusters maneuvered her in. several Flyers has congregated around the Enterprise, as using the Tractor beam alone was deemed too stressful for both vessels. Using the Magnetic clamp plates seemed somewhat novel for the Pilots, but most used them on recon missions, so this old school piece of kit lent itself quite nicely to the objective. Once inside, a point to point Nav Plot is created and the Core creates a Gravitational Vortex between the points which a vessel can Slipstream along. Depending on how concentrated the vortex is with Gravitational Confinement, dictates how quick the Slipstream is.

"_Captain"_

"_You are about to tell me something I do not want to hear"_

"_Yes Ma'am, the Groombridge NP is locked but the Allectus is not responding. Helm no longer answers and we are hurtling towards Groombridge"_

"_How long"_ Sarah asked.

"_Sixty minutes Ma'am, and the Helm controls have been locked out by persons unknown"_

"_Lieutenant Talmey, I was not aware that internal sensors are down?"_

"_They are not Captain. I read twenty two insurgents in the main shuttle bay. Three teams are converging on the area Ma'am"_

"_Very good lieutenant"_

"_All hands Red Alert, hostiles have breached the ship, I repeat, hostiles have breached the ship. All hands to stations, the main shuttle bay has been compromised. Take them out"_

Lieutenant Talmey raced off with Lieutenant Ellett in tow. Talmey being an ex Federation Marine, was relishing the prospect of some good ole soldering. Deano had already ordered the area sealed off, but in truth there was little to worry about there. The intruder protocol was enacted as soon as the Frel insurgents were detected. All surrounding hatches, panels and Jeffery's tubes went into lock down. Only personal affected were those whom had duties in that area to attend to. However, they were transported out of the areas as protocol dictated. The main shuttle bay had only two craft resident as the rest were attached to the Enterprise. The main shuttle bay had two entry points that had two teams arriving with the Security contingent, with the Security Chief and Tactical Officer a few moments out. Deano asked for a sit rep and the answer was that the Frel appear to be waiting for them.

"_No movement at all" Deano asked the Dragon Squad Leader."_

"_No Sir, I don't think they bargained on how special we all are"_

This brought smiles all round. Deano was amazed at the exuberance of Dragon squad sometimes, but understood their need to show their teeth. A quick telepathic scan on arrival showed him mentally that the Frel appeared to want a quick and easy showdown. Their motives for that were unclear at this juncture, but he could guess that it was ritualistic in nature. Anyway he thought to himself.

"_Who gives a shit"_

Four Security Teams were arrayed around the main shuttle bay and being kept out of the line of sight of the Frel insurgents. Due to the main shuttle bay being an add on of sorts, it was aligned on the Ventral side to Aft. The roof had been embedded into the hull and the front covering removed, after which the bay doors were replaced with drop shafts. Originally a new type of Flyer was supposed to have been commissioned, but while still only one prototype, it was canned. The new bay had already been installed and to make use of it, Flyers with weapon mods used a smaller version of the canons used on the Defiant. They operated at the same frequency's, but had to downgrade shot count and particle content. A set of facts that Lieutenant Ellett, quickly grasped.

"_They are going for the flyers. Shit Deano, there the two left!"_

"_Ellett to the bridge, please respond"_

"_Captain"_

"_The Flyers are what they want, those phaser cannons are what they want. Using photon based weapons and an electrical charge and the right moment, that could annihilate planets"_

"_Frank you have the bridge"_

"_Ma'am"_

Lieutenant Ellett, I am on my way and Frank, link the Tactical Matrix to the Tactical Net" Sarah said running for the turbo lift. Different scenarios running through her mind at what could happen next. Despite having next to nothing in terms of intel on the Frel, it would not be too much of an assumption that their smaller craft have no offense. Again Elletts fears could be well founded. Either way, the Allectus cannot make any concessions on an assumption. Sarah arrived at the main shuttle bay to be greeted by Lieutenant Talmey.

"_Captain, there are 22 insurgents arrayed around the middle of the bay. They are making use of the various cargo pods and boxes etc, to keep concealed. The reason they have encamped themselves there is because the location suits cutting into the lower bay Ma'am"_

"_How so?"_

"_Central means less load hitting on one given spot is my guess. Quite frankly though, they are not going to succeed in their endeavors" _

"_All personal, take them"_

Lieutenant Talmey edged forward through the bay entry to Port, while the other with the Captain edged through the other. The Frel at this point were not visible to the Squad, however the TN was imaging them quite nicely. As both Squads made their way to form up on a flanking maneuver, Lieutenant Ellett held his prototype Sniper Phaser Rifle, ready to drop the hammer if any Frel was stupid enough to raise his head. Using the cover of a pathway of fire, Dragon Squad had charged into combat with overlapping fire. The first of them reached a point of twenty meters away from the Frel, then crouched and laid down suppressive fire. The second wave then charged towards the Frel position and got in under the range of the Frel weapons. One Frel lost his head as he got curious.

Sarah had taken her Squad to the edge of the Frel position, but unfortunately three Security personal fell to gun fire. Sarah had managed to get out of the Frel range and just let rip on the encampment. Originally a flanking maneuver was on her mind, but the hardened alloy plates were beginning to wilt under the suppressive fire. Knowing that barrels were now running hot, Deano and Dragons 7 to 12 charged around the back of the encampment. All of them were so coordinated with the firing solutions given by the TN, the remaining eleven Frel were massacred and left burning. Dragons always go for the head shots and whatever the apparatus were on the Frel headgear, it contained volatile liquid that sprayed out. The Frel were all on fire.

"_Captain all clear"_

"_Very good Lieutenant"_

Sarah then ordered a clean up detail to get rid of the body's. Ensign Tec'co was requested to help with the lock outs, but was not necessary as the lock outs lifted as the Frel equipment was destroyed by the recent barrage. The Allectus was no longer unresponsive at the helm and Berg now had the NP all secure. Some of the Frel equipment remained in a state good enough to study. For now the Allectus and crew stood down and hoped that the arrival at Groombridge would be rather more straight forward.


	8. The Illumination Of Darkness

**The Illumination Of Darkness**

**March 3rd 2384 – 06:00 Earth Standard Time**

Jojo could never get over the sheer beauty of the Badlands, a swirling mass of matter that looked almost ethereal, that just appeared to be alive. Whether it was just a case of her Telepathy, or just some random inner feeling, Jojo could almost feel a tangible link with the whatever. Jojo was not one to dwell on such matters, life for her was almost surreal. It was like that she just detached from the normal realm of carbon based life. Sometimes she just felt like she was intersecting the very fabric of life itself, a spectre flowing through all the particles that made matter tick. Jojo had been travelling for some 17 and a half hours, for some inconceivable reason, the feeling of death was now apocalyptic. The Cardassian she was to meet with, was a student of Elam Garrick himself, so therefore it should be safe. However, despite the fact that Garrick would not forsake intelligence for Cardassian trickery, that is no guarantee that the agent would not kill if pissed off. The Order does like to make a point, and if it comes to it, he will die in order for Jojo to escape the area.

Jojo was now placing her personal Flyer the Spartan, on auto pilot with the transphasic scanners monitoring for any heavy Cardassian stuff. She made her way to aft section where her locker was and started to get ready. The boots were first, which while looking like standard Federation issue, had a toughened top over the toes and extending to the ankle. This was for frontal kicks directed towards the skull. It also had banding around the heel for swinging kicks that would shatter most alien skulls, including armoured head gear. Next was the chest and shoulder plating made from exotic materials including Ceramics. In the middle was a liquid chamber filled with anti resonance fluid which counteracted blunt force, but energy discharge was catered for. The whole design was ancient Roman in jet black. The rest of the armour was standard SSFD equipment, but slightly modded. The peach of the lot was the head gear. This is a fully enclosed Lid that has sixteen Signal Attenuation Processors linked to a Neural Node, partly based on Borg tech. The Processors are fabricated on a 5 nm process and have an organic substrate with synthetic crystal traces. The Processors sieve the Brain for errant signals and instructions through to the non critical, then shunts them to the buffers where the electrical interrupts are captured and sent through the Sap's to the Holomask and Sensory Projectors. The last was the hooded cloak made from exotic materials with the hood down over eye level. This did not matter with the head gear imaging system. The head gear was equipped with filtration systems to cater for any environment that did not require an environment suit of whatever description. It mainly designed for battle damaged planets that had radiation or particle mass in the air. It looked quite menacing as well, adding a touch of fear to any mark.

Jojo also had a pair of specially constructed Phaser Pistols. They were modelled on the 20th Century Glock 17's. They were rapid fire and fired smaller and tightly confined pulses. The energy on reaching a hostile resulted in the pulses hitting and continuing rather than dispersing. On her back was a Phased Polaron Rifle. All of her weapons were linked to the Sensory Projectors and all this was managed by the Tactical Net.

Jojo had never reached the threshold of Telepathy that Sarah had reached, Jojo was more Empathic with a twist. It had always been presumed that Telekinesis was the purview of the fully Telepathic mind. However, in Jojo the reverse in some measure was true. She was fully Telepathic,

but had more skill with sensory input, thus enabling her ability to sense rather than read on a wholesale level. Her greatest strength was the ability to channel her telekinesis to her own movements rather than project them to a target. It gave her an alarming level of alacrity which could result in many marks hitting the floor already dead. At twenty eight years of age, Jojo felt like she was sixty, seen more death and destruction that would send the average person completely mental. It was a hell of a gift that was bestowed upon her, hell being the price.

The navigation system chimed with the 15 minute approach warning to Athos IV. Jojo had been thinking if she would step on ground walked by the great Captain Sisko.

"_Oh this is one of the places to be"_ She reflected.

However this time, it was not some mission of mercy for the Federation. This time it was for ascertaining what the Tholians are up to. They never move openly, so Jojo felt that even they are worried about the Frel incursion. Only this time, it did not feel quite right to Jojo. It was almost if the Tholians harboured a general apathy to them.

"_Could they be related to one another. Hell, it is not as if the rest of the alpha quadrant know much about them, a few fleeting encounters over the years"_ Jojo mused.

Whatever the case, she was confident that any Cardassian tactics to engineer her capture, would be negated by her ability's. She would sense any deception and was pretty confident that the contact would not be in the loop other than the objective. Jojo had a somewhat chequered history with the Central Command. They had sent a strike team to take her out a couple of years ago. Twelve 2nd Order Soldiers walked into a trap and were quickly dispatched into the nether world. Jojo often had the aloof attitude when it came to personal danger. She lived by the maxim that if it bleeds, you can kill it. She often thought that what she did was just pure murder. Of course it was pure and simply, but like most Humans, if it is for a cause of the greater good, it was acceptable. However, those that intersect both dark and light, the darkness becomes all consuming. A mark is a mark, but that is all encompassing and eventually the actual distinction of what is a mark and just another lame life form, becomes just what is. You deal in death and then become death. Jojo just could no longer give a fuck, it was just her and nothing else. She could just illicit just enough mercy for the rules of sentient life, and not just participate in wanton slaughter. It was becoming increasingly difficult for Jojo not to just shoot first and fuck the questions. The last Councillor she saw had just froze when Jojo had projected a rather dark thought into her mind. She often mused over the idea that perhaps the whole system was right. Jojo was trapped by her own power, the pure thrill of the kill was almost sexual in nature. The extreme pleasure that was derived from an act of a God, was just intoxicating. It all stemmed to one particular mission. One that had involved a Human trying to sell research involving Annika Hansen. The problem was that the Human had a friend with him and she had got in the way. another problem was that she was quite short, the shot went through her stomach and into the genitals of the male and vaporised his hips and body matter. Jojo had escaped, but a Bolian female had been behind her. The Bolian got mind raped and then Jojo just ripped her mind to pieces. In line of sight, Jojo was deadly. What she did next though was just ungodly. Jojo took out her knife and sliced the corpse head to toe in half. One half she vaporised, the other she left.

Jojo was alerted from her somewhat deprecating thoughts to a familiar computer call. She was on the approach to Athos IV and received a signal from the contact. Beaming coordinates were sent and a message that area was all clear. Jojo snorted in derision at this. The Cardassians were galactic scum, to be dealt with accordingly. Another announcement came through via the computer AI, it was from a Klingon vessel.

"_What the hell. How did they know?"_

Jojo quickly realised that the Klingons must be on a mission that mirrors hers. She accepted the message and opened frequency's with the vessel. She was met with a familiar face.

"_Alex, what the hell are you doing here. I am on an important mission"_

"_Well hi to you too. Yes we know Jojo. Yes you are walking into a trap. Yes we are going with you"_

"_Well fucking hell, you are now a priest"_

"_Er, no Jojo, just well informed" _With a wink.

"_Ok, sorry Alex. Just tired that's all. How many are down there?_

"_The 2nd Order have a garrison down there. The good news is that there are only two thousand down there. The bad news is the item you are after is in a fortress. Other good news is that we are bored"_

"_Excellent, I mean that is unfortunate. I guess that means that you will join me with a squad and the General will like to flatten something"_

"_Indeed. However it is best that we keep the V'lgaE under cloak for now. Come in behind us and we will partially drop the cloak. How many Warriors can the Spartan hold?"_

"_She can cram in eight of you. The problem is going to be beaming all of us to the surface. There is only one pad, but enough power to transport three at a time. As such I would have to take the Spartan down which would compromise the mission. I alone was to transport to prepared coordinates"_

"_And right into several rifles trained on you" _Alex finished for Jojo.

"_We are gliding above you now, preparing an entry point for you"_

The Spartan edged forward through the partial drop of the cloak and came underneath the _V'lgaE. _To the Cardassian sensors, the blip did not change. At least not if you paying complete attention. Eight Warriors started beaming in two at a time. The last pair unsurprisingly were Alex and General Changa. The General was standing there with a feral grin on his face and it looked like he had been sharpening his teeth. The group exchanged the usual formalities and got down to formulating a plan. The Flyer had been instructed to hold position over the transport coordinates after Jojo had received the Cardassian transmission. That part of the plan cannot be deviated from without tipping off the contact. Sifting through the information the Klingons had provided, it would appear unlikely that the Obsidian Order contact was even there. They did not have much time with which to decide as the transport site was two minutes away. The General proposed that a tactical beam in may work enough for some shots to count, but it was agreed that the destination pad would have a force field erected. Alex had pointed out that subterfuge was all but irrelevant, the way now was a little Klingon verve.

"_Ok Alex, what do you propose?"_

"_With the Generals permission, I propose that we beam a Plasma Torpedo down a fraction of a second after you. We only need to send your signal and piggy back the Plasma Torpedo to that. Effectively, none of your matter will actually be beamed down, just your bio signature"_

"_Will that work?.The Cardassians are not that stupid to fall for trickery"_ Changa stated.

"_Sir, they want the Commander. That means that means that the Gul in charge will have to take the risk. The Order will not take kindly to failure and they will be involved, you can be sure of that"_

"_Ok, with the Generals permission, we will take the Spartan to the transport site with the V'lgaE behind. Beam the Torpedo down, you lot de-cloak and then we drop the hammer"_

"_Ok and what then"_ Alex asked.

"_We travel on the Spartan to the likely position of the package and improvise"_

General Changa and the rest prepared for the Torpedo while the Spartan seemed to widen its hull with the booming Klingon laughs. The Spartan edged its way into position and awaited confirmation for transport. Jojo was unable to get accurate scans of the surface but guessed that the Cardassian compound was likely to be underground. The computer confirmed that coordinates are set and the transport can commence. Jojo made her way to the pad and the complicated manoeuvre could begin. Her pattern would be replicated to the genetic marker only. Once this happened, the Torpedo would be latched onto the signal while Jojo would be sent to the Spartan buffer and re-materialised on the V'lgaE. The buffer on any Flyer would not facilitate the action. It was not going to matter too much as the balloon was about to go up. Jojo indicated that time is up.

"_Fuck this up and I will meet you at the gates of Stovokor in another Vor'Cha" _She said with a big grin.

The transport took place with Jojo materialising on the Vor'Cha slightly longer than anticipated. A Klingon with medical training met her with some slight worries of transporter psychosis, but everthing was fine. Meanwhile the Torpedo had successfully beamed down and detonated upon the completion of the beaming. It did transpire that Jojo was right to speculate that the facility was underground. The Spartan and the V'lgaE recorded the final moments of whatever was down there, particle mass was swirling around the sky still after the Dominion had laid waste to the Planet. From what they could tell, a fault line was cracked, so what was not vaporised, was crushed from the inside out. Strangely enough, there was no response to the aftermath of the action. No vessels appeared to be on approach and there were no transmissions of any kind. The Planet was a Ghost of a previous past and maybe now, the Planet could mourn the Spirits and release them to the Stars themselves. A final act that could act as a catalyst for something new.

**Klingon Vor'Cha Attack Cruiser V'lgaE**

**06:45 Earth Standard Time**

Jojo was amazed. She had never imagined that the Klingons could reach the level of Technology that they have. A little known secret is that they have Transwarp Drives, but this vessel is the pinnacle of what you need to deal in death. Jojo did notice that the vessel is very dark for a Klingon Warbird, it was almost like a Graphite Grey, with the Engine coverings and mounts jet Black. The fuselage also had a jet Black streak running bow to stern. She noted bow guns and what looked like two massive Disrupter's on the Dorsal plane. The one that stood out the most was the Yellow paint on the front fascia of the Engines and and Silver claws. The scheme covered two thirds front out. She was alerted to a very strong presence approaching. As such she did not turn around to show due deference to a fellow Warrior. It was General Changa of course. He had the gait of a man who had seen death and laughed at it, so confident rather that arrogant. She let him approach as deference required.

"_Commander. You are enjoying the view?"_

"_Absolutely General, this is a fine warship"_

"_Yes, yes it is. This vessel is what you Humans would say, the Black Eagle. She is a heavily modified Vor'Cha. As you know she has a Transwarp Drive. But what you do not know is, she has two new Type-4 Disruptor Cannons as well as a reversed engineered Phased Polaron Lance, they are one shot killers. The Lance is just a by word really, the tech is typical of a Spinal Laser barrel but with different fire and control systems. It is effective, but how is it you Humans say, still pretty shit"_

"_Mmm, not too mention the Cloaking Shields using the same physics"_

Changa could only smile at this. The General proceeded to get to more important matters. His Intelligence Officer had accurately sited the Cardassian Fortress and where the likely location of the package was. The Intelligence Officer was none other than Alexander Worf, son of Worf and of the House Martok, no longer the error prone Warrior of ten years ago or so. Jojo knew that meant it was going to be reconnaissance in force mission, with a surgical strike from the Black Eagle. She also knew the Klingon mindset, no doubt two Birds of Prey are near to the system to offer support however unlikely. She made her way with the General to see what the plan was.

"_Worf report"_

"_General, the system is bereft of any enemy vessels. The Tang and the Qo'nor reporting as ordered. They are ready to punch a whole where we need it Sir"_

"_Excellent, let us go forth and unleash the dogs of war. Worf make your report and plan"_

"_By sending a probe we have managed to scan the surface, we now have a map of the Fortress. However, it is not quite what is seems. The structure over the top is conical in design with a four spires. The underground levels are what is interesting. They are around a mile square and are all compartmentalised. This suggests to me that it is a research base. It was probably constructed during the Domimion occupation, but is a research base of that I am sure. Furthermore, the scans indicate only three hundred lifeforms. Chemical analysis throws some doubt on them being Cardassian"_

"_What is the guess overall?"_ Jojo enquired.

"_I do not think I need to spell that one out, do I"_ Alex answered.

"_Shit"_ Jojo had her head in her hands.

The General suspected that the answer was very bad. The Warrior in him dictated that who he believed Jojo was going to name, felt much anticipation for a glorious battle and glorious death. He continued the conversation by asking rhetorically the inevitable question.

"_The Frel"_

"_Precisely"_ Jojo answered.

The General then formulated a response to the news on the spot. He decided that a team must go down because Qo'Nos needed much more information on the Frel as did the Federation. The weak points of the Fortress were obvious, not the thing itself, but the lack of manpower. The base did not seem to have a high power output as required. That meant that the defences would be minimal even if they were mostly automated. Closer inspection of the scan data revealed no power relays making there way to the spires and dome roof. In all likely hood, the Fortress relied on guile and heavy reinforced roofs and such like. He could have ordered a saturation orbital strike, but he realised that Jojo needed to get down there and plunder what could be plundered. He decided that Worf would go with her accompanied by one hundred Warriors. The General would have liked to be with them, but he knew that the Frel would turn up and that was a factor he relished.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by the Communications Officer. There was a signal coming in from Qo'Nos and the Chancellor no less. He ordered it put on speakers.

"_General Changa, it is good to see your face again and I have to burden you with news most grave._ _The Frel have hit our borders and we are losing to put it bluntly. The outer system colony's have fallen, which is no surprise as most are agriculture. The main fleets are on standby and will create a defensive cauldron in the Frel will have to engage. Separate task forces are going to act a raiders. I must tell you that I was contacted by Captain Picard because of a recent fire fight that the Allectus and Enterprise were badly damaged. I will spare the overall details, but suffice to say, I have some specific orders for you"_ Chancellor Martok continued.

"_The Federation Officer you have with you, and I'm sure Alex has told you, is one Commander Joanne McHattie, with a reputation that could cool Suns. She is the Sister of"_

"_Captain Sarah McHattie, recently promoted after Captain Renford. A radical and someone I would like to have shared some blood wine with"_

"_Very good General, then I will get to the point. The Ven'Koth and and Q'asH are en-route to you. They will be with you in ten minutes. Once the Commander has found something of value, she will return to the __V'lgaE and you will depart for Groombridge. The SSFD are sending a new Marauder Class Destroyer called Barham, a name rich in British courage and spirit I believe. The crew are mostly Human, but have a smattering of Vulcans, Andorians and a few others. When the Barham arrives, it will take point with you. If the Commander is still Planet side when an enemy appears, get her up. Then make for Groombridge even if you have to shirk a fight. Is that understood"_

"_Yes Chancellor, of course. Please tell me that I will be able to avenge the deaths of our brothers?"_

"_That you will General Changa, but it will be with the SSFD as there Warriors in arms. All will become clear General. Once Commander Mchattie is at Groombridge, set course for home General"_

The communication was cut and Changa felt that rushing back to Qo'Nos would be no shame_._ However, he had his orders and if it was anybody else, well maybe not so accommodating. Well he had to get the Commander to the surface and that base. The _V'lgaE _would bombard an area and then crack the roof of the underground section. Hopefully that would be sufficient to at least make a route to the lower levels. With three Vor'Cha's, that should guarantee success. Time was short so the plan was outlined to JoJo and the Klingon Officers.

"_The Tang and the Qo'nor will ride shotgun with the Spartan to provide cover. The V'lgaE, Ven'Koth and Q'asH, will provide orbital bombing of the spires and dome roof. The latter two will take the spires. It is not known if there will any thing left, as such the V'lgaE will penetrate an area North East on the dome and create a hole. Hopefully this will allow insertion through the roof and still be able to find the lower sections passable"_

The General continued.

"_The Birds of Prey will look out for any automated defences that we cannot detect. The insertion team will then look for the entry point and once established, the Tang and Qo'Nor will pinpoint the transport site for the hundred Warriors. This maybe a little out on Klingon tactics, but the Flyer is a small craft and and few in crew numbers. It is best the use the obvious here and make the Frel think what we want them to think. To that end we may as well telegraph our intentions. At least then we have a measure of control. All of you to your stations and let us make this endeavour most glorious"_

**Athos IV**

**07:15 Earth Standard Time**

**Ven'Koth Battle Bridge**

"_Captain. We are picking up an event horizon to Starboard"_

"_Very well, bring it up on the screen"_

What happened after that had the entire Bridge onlooking with shock and awe. What came through was the USS Barham, the first Marauder Class Destroyer. The Klingons noted that the front Saucer looked like a sleeker and beefed up Sovereign. However the rear was entirely new to them. It had four Engines attached to a cross section Engine mount. The upper Engines were swung 30 degrees upwards and were the longer of the four. The lower pair were slightly shorter on the mount, but angled about 10 degrees upward on the horizontal. They just looked beautiful. Of course the Klingons noticed the nose Guns and the two massive Phaser Cannons on the Port and Starboard. The one overwhelming fact was the size of the Barham. It was designated as being a Destroyer and Klingons were just stunned, as she was eight hundred meters. The Captain of the Ven'koth answered the hails and once the formalities were completed. The Barham came alongside the Ven'Koth and uploaded the latest intelligence on the area. Four Frel vessels were en-route, three looked familiar, but the forth was unseen up to now. It was estimated to be around a thousand meters. If deemed right, the SSFD warships still out gun the vessels on relative sizes, but this new vessel could annihilate both the Klingons and the Barham if they were not careful.

"_Oh well, sixty minutes then"_ The Captain of the Barham reflected.


End file.
